NCRA: Knoxville Friday 1200# Nationals report

KNOXVILLE, IA - Don Droud, Jr. and Kasey Kahne were the winners Friday night at Knoxville Raceway in the All Star sprint/NCRA/IRA/Midwest Mafia $114,170 1200 pound Knoxville Nationals twin 20-lap features. A total of 97 cars entered the first running of this event.

Droud had to hold off a hard charging Terry McCarl for his $3,000 win while Kahne made a thrilling last lap pass of Dennis Moore and early leader Skip Jackson for his win.

In the first 20-lap A main, Manny Rockhold started on the ButlerBuilt Hot Seat pole beside Larry Ball, Jr. Rockhold led the initial laps over Mark Towes, who lost second to eighth starting Droud on lap four. When a caution flew on lap six, Rockhold was still on top over Droud, Larry Ball, Jr, Towes, McCarl, Scott Nietzel and Kenny Jacobs. Droud dove low after the restart to take over the lead on lap seven and McCarl moved up through the pack to second on lap nine.

McCarl tracked down the leader and made a low groove move for the lead on lap 13 and just as he was about to make the pass, Charlie Osborn slowed on the back stretch, bringing out a caution. This kept Droud on top over McCarl, Nietzel, Rockhold, Ball and Jacobs.

Droud pulled away on the restart, and McCarl reeled him back in by lap 17. On lap 18, McCarl was side by side with the leader going into turn four but Droud was ahead by inches at the flagstand. On lap 19, McCarl put another slide job on the leader, but the lapped car of Joe Bustillos was in McCarl's way and he had to back off the throttle for an instant, allowing Droud to keep the lead and go on to win. McCarl was second by a margin of .222 seconds ahead of Jacobs who started sixth. Neitzel was fourth ahead of Jeff Mitrisin, Rockhold, Darren Stewart, Ball, Mark Towes and Mock.

Standing alongside his Mark Burch machine in victory lane, Droud exclaimed, "Who needs the outlaws!" He then spoke of track conditions. "The moisture in the air got down In the race track on the middle groove and I thought I had a pretty good run going. Terry McCarl showed me his nose on the inside and I had to block him."

In feature two, Colin Northway was on the Butler Built pole with Calvin Landis alongside. Landis grabbed the lead over sixth starter Skip Jackson. Jackson began challenging Landis on laps three and four, but a bobble on lap six caused Jackson to drop back slightly. Jackson reeled back in the leader and dove low in turn three with a slide job to lead lap 14. Jackson was ahead of Landis and Danny Smith until disaster struck on lap 18 when Ryan Flynn got sideways on the front chute and skidded into Jackson, with Flynn flipping. The impact knocked off Jackson's nose wing and debris flattened Smith's right rear tire. Landis also had debris damage his machine.

Jackson held the lead on the restart, but his machine's handling was off and he drifted high, allowing Kahne to make a pass for the lead going down the backstretch.

Following Kahne at the end was 14th starter Kerry Madsen and Dennis Moore Jr. was third with Ed Lynch Jr, fourth and Brian Ellenberger fifth. Last starter Wayne Johnson was sixth.

"I always wanted to win a race her," Kahne said from victory lane, standing beside Phil Durst's No. 51 wrenched by Barry Jackson.

The K-T Equipment heat went to Mark Towes, the JB Enterprise Racing Products heat to Colin Northway, the Crown Battery heat to Manny Rockhold, the Engler Machine & Tool heat fell to Jesse Giannetto, and Mike Wagner, Danny Smith, Don Droud, Jr., Calvin Landis, Terry McCarl and Dennis Moore, Jr. won the other six heats The twin B Mains fell to Kim Mock and John Van Den Berg. In the first heat, Mike Faria flipped in turn four with Leonard Lee crashing into him. Faria was transported to Knoxville Hospital for a checkup. Randy Sippel got sideways and flipped at the start of heat three, collecting Terry Chesak and Mike Moore. Ty Bartz flipped in heat seven. All four were okay.

K-T Equipment Rental Heat (10 laps): 1. Mark Towes 2. Kenny Jacobs 3. Larry Ball, Jr. 4. Darren Stewart 5. Kim Mock 6. Earnest Jennings 7. Barry Ruble 8. Mike Faria 9. Leonard Lee 10. Scott Beritzer.

JB Enterprise Racing Products Heat (10 laps): 1. Colin Northway 2. Chad Kemenah 3. Dean Jacobs 4. Joe Roe 5. Bill McCroskey 6. Fred Ebler 7. Clyde Nagel 8. Dave Enders 9. Ryan Irwin 10. Tim St. Arnold.

Crown Battery Heat (10 laps): 1. Manny Rockhold 2. Jerrod Hull 3. Shane Hunter 4. Joe Bustillos 5. Charley Osborn 6. Zach Chappell 7. Randy Sippel 8. Terry Chesak 9. Mike Moore 10. Jerrod Wilson (DNS).

Engler Machine & Tool Heat (10 laps): 1. Jesse Giannetto 2. Brian Ellenberger 3. Sean Walden 4. Rodney Duncan 5. John Sernett 6. Bill Warren 7. Dave Westercamp 8. Howie Gleason 9. Brooke Tatnell 10. Jamie Moyle.

Fifth Heat (10 laps): 1. Mike Wagner 2. Derek Beckman 3. Chad Meyer 4. John Lambertz 5. Rich Bubak 6. Steve Gennetten 7. Kerry Jones 8. Jason Johnson (WI) 9. Darrell Dodd (DNS) 10. Brett Golik (DNS).

Sixth Heat (10 laps): 1. Danny Smith 2. Ed Lynch, Jr. 3. Kasey Kahne 4. Travis Rilat 5. John Haeni 6. John Van Den Berg 7. Jon Agan 8. Matt Saint 9. Curt Grant 10. Chris Walraven.

Seventh Heat (10 laps): 1. Don Droud Jr. 2. Matt Moro 3. Jeff Mitrisin 4. Jason Johnson (LA) 5. Justin Henderson 6. Peter Murphy 7. Tim Monson 8. Clint Garner 9. Travis Tennyson 10. Ty Bartz.

Eighth Heat (10 laps): 1. Calvin Landis 2. Skip Jackson 3. Ricky Logan 4. Travis Whitney 5. Matt Wasmund 6. Donny Goeden 7. Wayne Modjeski 8. Robert Bell 9. Brent Antill.

Ninth Heat (10 laps): 1. Terry McCarl 2. Scott Nietzel 3. Todd Hepfner 4. Jim Melis 5. Dave Uttech 6. John Sauermilch 7. Jerry Richert Jr. 8. Jim Skinner 9. Gary Wright.

Tenth Heat (10 laps): 1. Dennis Moore, Jr. 2. Kerry Madsen 3. Ryan Flynn 4. Randy Anderson 5. Kevin Whitworth 6. Greg Wilson 7. Larry Pinegar 8. Wayne Johnson 9. Steve Meyer.

First B Main (12 laps): 1. Mock 2. Henderson 3. Uttech 4. Gennetten 5. Murphy 6. Bubak 7. Lee 8. Melis 9. Chappell 10. Monson 11. Skinner 12. Garner 13. Ruble 14. Jones 15. Jennings 16. Johnson (WI) 17. Sauermilch 18. Dodd.

Second B Main (12 laps): 1. Van Den Berg 2. W. Johnson 3. Haeni 4. Sernett 5. Pinegar 6. Whitworth 7. G. Wilson 8. Wasmund 9. Westercamp 10. Warren 11. Agan 12. Goeden 13. McCroskey 14. Gleason 15. Nagle 16. Modjeski 17. Ebler 18. Saint 19. Enders 20. Bell.

First A Main (20 laps): 1. Don Droud Jr. 2. Terry McCarl 3. Kenny Jacobs 4. Scott Nietzel 5. Jeff Mitrisin 6. Manny Rockhold 7. Darren Stewart 8. Larry Ball Jr. 9. Mark Towes 10. Kim Mock 11. Jason Johnson (LA) 12. Mike Wagner 13. Chad Meyer 14. Justin Henderson 15. Jerrod Hull 16. Derek Beckman 17. John Lambertz 18. Shane Hunter 19. Todd Hepfner 20. Joe Bustillos 21. Charley Osborn 22. Matt Moro.

Second A Main (20 laps): 1. Kasey Kahne 2. Kerry Madsen 3. Dennis Moore Jr. 4. Ed Lynch Jr. 5. Brian Ellenberger 6. Skip Jackson 7. Wayne Johnson 8. Joe Roe 9. Dean Jacobs 10. Chad Kemenah 11. Ricky Logan 12. Travis Rilat 13. Rodney Duncan 14. Randy Anderson 15. Danny Smith 16. Colin Northway 17. Calvin Landis 18. Jesse Giannetto 19. John Van Den Berg 20. Sean Walden 21. Ryan Flynn 22. Travis Whitney.

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